Saturday, January 16, 2021
Stop diversionary maneuvers
"Church service" demo forbidden in Nuremberg
Disguise a demonstration as a service? Not in Nuremberg: after the ban on gatherings thwarted demonstrators' plans, they thought they would be resourceful and simply move in front of a church.
After the ban on meetings against the current Corona restrictions in Nuremberg, a service in front of the Lorenzkirche was called for on Sunday in the social networks. The police and the city pointed out that such a meeting is also prohibited. The Evangelical Lutheran Deanery Nuremberg and the Catholic city church distanced themselves from the appeal and announced that the planned demonstration had nothing to do with the liturgical celebrations in the churches.
"The initiators of this event want to create a replacement for the forbidden demonstration," declared the churches in a joint communication. On Twitter, the Evangelical Lutheran Dean's Office in Nuremberg asked people to stay at home and not come to the meeting in front of the Lorenz Church.
A spokesman for the Middle Franconia police said that all events against the corona restrictions on Sunday were prohibited. The mayor of Nuremberg, Marcus König, also referred to the ban on Twitter, stating that a "spontaneous service" is not permitted because "there is no special permit for public property and such a permit is only possible through recognized religious communities and a religious representative commissioned for this purpose.
The city of Nuremberg canceled three events related to opponents of the corona measures on Wednesday. The reason for this is that it is to be expected that the conditions will be disregarded and distance rules will not be observed, it said. A fourth announced meeting was withdrawn by the organizers. The four events should take place on Sunday afternoon at different locations in Bavaria's second largest city.
In November, almost 2,000 people protested against the partial lockdown in Munich at a gathering on the Theresienwiese that had been declared a service. Bavaria's Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann had announced strict controls afterwards. "In the future, the police and assembly authorities will prevent such diversionary maneuvers from the start," said the CSU politician of the "Bild" newspaper in November.
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